The Legend of Bruce Lee (1980)

THE LEGEND OF BRUCE LEE Bruce Le Portrays His Tragic Namesake Everybody’s kung fu fighting as modern-day martial artist Bruce Le stars in this colorful, action-packed film about the tragically short life of his legendary lookalike and namesake, Bruce Lee. In between gruelling lessons with his revered kung fu master, who teaches him to fight blindfolded, the young Bruce battles for his life in the city streets, barehanded against enemies with knives and chains. Then, he learns the Snake Fist style of kung fu fighting just in time to avenge his murdered friend Ah Choi. Starring BRUCE LE Director & Screenplay DANIEL LAU Martial Art Director & Director BRUCE LE ©1986 Ocean Shores Video Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

A Classic

One of my good friends showed me this as a joke but the fighting is good in it. It is nothing like the real life of Bruce Lee but who cares it's very entertaining. Some of the crappy elements of this make it very funny if you like bad movies. My friends and I quote this movie often especially the reference to 'college'
'Bruce, thanks, thanks for saving me but I'm late for college'
'You're always getting into trouble and you're still only at college'
You'd have to hear it to get the joke anyways this is a very fun movie with some good martial arts but don't take it too seriously.
January 12, 2008

Not Bruce's Life...BUT...

This is yet another Bruceploitation flick that I choose not to give a whole paragraph to, HOWEVER, while the film has little or nothing to do with Bruce's SHORT but TRAGIC life as suggested by the cover, Bruce Le does prove himself to be quite a martial arts entertainer...and I'm convinced that between him and Bruce Li, he bares the strongest resemblance to Bruce Lee in appearance, physical conditioning, and speed. However, while the movie is fast-paced and features everyone from Bolo to Hahn from Enter the Dragon...there's a little too much fiction and THIS AINT NO BRUCE LEE STORY...it pretty much attempts to dramatize his urban youth in Hong Kong. But again, it's a keeper for the action alone. January 31, 2005

BRUCE LE AS STAR DIRECTOR AND FIGHT DIRECTOR

First of all, lets get one thing straight. Some goons who have written reviews for this movie below seem to think Bruce Lee is in it. Bruce Lee is not the star of this movie. The star is Bruce Le - king of Bruceploitation. Very and I mean very loosley based on the early years of Bruce Lee, this movie shows Bruce Le as a college student who is constantly getting into fights. He learns martial arts and quickly becomes a master. The final confrontation in the film sees Le taking on the villain with the claw from Enter The Dragon. Le defeats him and the two seem to make friends. While this is certainly not as good as some of Le's later movies, it's still very good and a must for collectors. November 15, 2003

Not bad, but this film is not about Bruce Lee at all

It must be stated at the outset that this film has nothing whatsoever to do with Bruce Lee. The star of the movie is actually Bruce Le, one of several Bruce Lee wannabe martial arts actors who followed in the wake of the true legend's shocking death. Furthermore, this is by no means a biographical account of any part of Bruce Lee's life, despite the title and the blurb on the box cover which says "Bruce Le portrays his tragic namesake." The only tie of any kind with the real Bruce Lee comes in the opening scene, wherein an astrologer sees a meteor and makes a prediction concerning the young baby of the couple sitting beside him, after which a shot of the real Bruce Lee appears. The fact that the film is not in truth about Bruce Lee at all comes very soon after the opening credits, though.

In and of itself, putting aside its misleading title and description, The Legend of Bruce Lee does have legs to stand on, albeit sometimes rather shaky ones. Bruce comes across as something of a juvenile delinquent who is constantly getting into fights (not always with good results). In an effort to improve his skills, he begins taking instruction in the art of Wing Chun kung fu, which includes some training in the art of blindfolded boxing (this comes after Bruce gets kicked around pretty convincingly by a blind man on the streets). After a time, he sort of abandons this type of fighting and begins training in the snake fist style. All of this training comes in handy because he can't walk a block without being attacked by a gang of kung fu thuds. The plot, what there is of it, is actually rather annoying, not to mention loosely tied together. The only real plot point comes when one of Bruce's friends is murdered and Bruce decides to avenge his friend's death.

There are some comical elements to this film, most of which revolve around a young man whom I would characterize as the Curly Howard of the Far East; he is little more than a buffoon whose antics become less funny as the movie progresses. The remainder of the storyline needs no description because it is only a means to an end. This film is really all about the fight scenes, and there are plenty of them. While these fights can be rather fun to watch, they definitely look choreographed (whereas the fights of the real Bruce Lee were quite realistic). One nice surprise comes in the form of Kien Shih's role in the film; Bruce Lee fans will recognize him instantly as the man who played the evil Han (the villain with the claw) in Enter the Dragon. Perhaps the most memorable aspect of this film, though, is the big snake scene. After his snake fist kung fu master tells Bruce to study the actual movements of a snake, he wastes no time assembling a trio of impressively dangerous-looking serpents upon which to practice his moves in concert with their reactions to his extremely annoying feints and pseudo-attacks against them.

Fans of the legendary Bruce Lee really have no reason to watch The Legend of Bruce Lee. Martial arts fans, though, may well get some enjoyment out of watching it for the simple reason that it features a very significant amount of fighting. October 3, 2003

GOOD IF UNTRUE DEPICTION OF THE REAL BRUCE LEE

... THE MAN YOU SEE IN THIS MOVIE IS NOT BRUCE LEE, BUT BRUCE LE, A BRUCE LEE WANNABE... A YOUNG BRUCE LEE WHO WANTS REVENGE FOR HIS FRIEND WHO WAS MURDERED, LEARNS THE SNAKE FIST STYLE. BRUCE LE IS PROBABLY THE BEST OF THE BRUCE LEE WANNABES. THIS IS A GREAT KUNG FU MOVIE, EVEN THOUGH THIS STORY IS 100% FICTIONAL. EVERYTHING BOUT THIS MOVIE IS COOL, FROM THE FIGHTS TO THE SCRIPT. DON'T WATCH THIS FOR THE PLOT, CAUSE THERE'S VERY LITTLE PLOT. WATCH IT FOR ITS FIGHTS AND YOU'LL ENJOY IT. GREAT MOVIE FOR SUCH A CHEAP PRICE. July 30, 2003

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